Raspberry Pi Webcast Receiver Image

Here is the very first image I've created for the Raspberry Pi, which is really nothing more than Openelec with a startup script for automatically receiving streams. I wanted to get feedback from those who have a Raspberry Pi, but I plan to have a web pagethat allows you to enter the Stream URL you want it to run automatically, or disable it altogether. I decided to go with Openelec because it's optimized for XBMC on the R-Pi and you can still use it as a media player for church videos, etc.

You'll need to image an SD card 4GB or larger (I'll eventually create a 2GB or 1GB image). To do so in windows use a program such as Win32 Disk Imager found here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Image download:
http://goo.gl/aT9bg

Notes:
Stream is set to the Church's test stream http://stream.lds.org/webcast - change it in /storage/.xbmc/userdata/autoexec.py (WinSCP is probably the easiest, connect to 'receiver' or IP address)
Example, change:
xbmc.executebuiltin('PlayMedia("http://stream.lds.org/webcast")')
to your stake stream URL:
xbmc.executebuiltin('PlayMedia("http://stream.lds.org/555555-555555")')

SSH is enabled and has the default root/openelec credentials (turn off in the XBMC Openelec menu after the URL has been set). Use the IP address or 'receiver' to connect to the Pi.

You need the VC-1 license key from the Raspberry Pi foundation in order to decode the windows media codec, it can be found here (about $2):
http://www.raspberrypi.com/vc-1-license-key/
Once you have the key, you'll need to enter it in the /flash/config.txt file in the license keys section:
decode_WVC1=0x00000000

Using 1680x1050 resolution has issues decoding, try a lower resolution. I don't think there's an option to webcast a stream that high anyways.

Audio is set to analogue, you can change it to HDMI through the XBMC settings menu.

Not sure if this was just me, but on first startup the video was choppy, after a restart it was fine.

You can use a keyboard and mouse directly connected to the Pi, use the webGui remote control, or mobile apps for remote control as well (enable in XBMC settings menu)

--
If you want to try it out and you get stuck somewhere then feel free to leave a message. I don't know where everyone is technologically but hopefully this will suffice for now. I'm going to start testing in one of our buildings, I'll likely switch from Openelec to Xbian in order to install remote software such as TeamViewer.

--Darcy M.

Thanks for your work on this, well done!

This sounds awesome. I already have XBMC running on my raspberry pi, so is there a way to add the streams without burning your version?

Thanks

Yes, with XBMC it's quite easy!

Edit/create ~/.xbmc/userdata/autoexec.py (EX: /home/pi/.xbmc/userdata/autoexec.py)

Then add these lines (without --- before and after), just replace the URL with your stake stream URL:
---
import xbmc

xbmc.executebuiltin('PlayMedia("http://stream.lds.org/webcast")')
---

Thanks for your work on this. I think it's a great idea. I loaded it up fine for the /webcast feed from SLC. However, when I changed it to our broadcast URL, I get a static image with no audio. Occasionally, the image will change but its really just not working.

I should mention that it works fine on a windows machine with windows media player.

Any idea on how the sample stream might differ from our stream?

Thanks,

Jerry Smith

Yes I do know the difference, and actually all of my testing was done on the test feed from SLC but when I went to actually use it for a stake stream a ran into a similar issue so I investigated. It turns out that the codec used is different when using the test SLC stream (WMV3), and the Stake streams use WVC1 (They are however from the same codec family). I have a slightly newer image where the audio works but the image still freezes. I sent an email to Salt Lake about this and subsequently am doing what I can to help with the next generation system.

I should have thoroughly tested this with Stake streams, but instead I erroneously assumed they were the same (since it's recommended for validating client configuration). I haven't tried a newer build for a couple of months though, perhaps the XBMC builds for Raspberry Pi have improved. Full support for the whole codec family is *supposed* to be possible and implemented but seems to fall down just with live streams (more codec info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC-1). I've had the best luck with either RaspBMC or OpenElec but Xbian is another good option. I'll see if I can test a newer image sometime in the coming few weeks but feel free to try it as well. The other thing I've tried in the past is just using OMXplayer from the default debian build for the R-Pi.

--Darcy

Is there any news of progress toward receiving stake streams on a Raspberry Pi? It would be much more convenient to just carry a Pi in a pocket than a laptop in a backpack, then try to sort out which adapters (S-Video to composite, etc.) got left out of the backpack when the previous group used the laptop for a youth dance or something similar...

Unfortunately no, and I haven't heard back about the plan for an alternate broadcast stream. If I had access to an available Church server I could set something up and test it. Alternatively Stake's could use their own stream server but this adds unnecessary cost, especially when Church HQs has one available. I will wait and see, I'm open to ideas for the interim.

--Darcy